In May of 2005, I headed up to Portland to see my friend Harvest's double-gallery art opening.
Harvest and her husband Scott are both artists, and their home was full of their artwork.
Harvest was running behind, and put me to work cutting up green-copied pornography for part of that night's art installation.
"Welcome to Portland," she joked.
Some of the artwork around their loft.
We went down and set up the gallery. Nothing like cutting things close!
Finally all was ready, and we could relax with her husband Scott.
This is Harvest's first show that night at the pause gallery.
It was called "Greener."
That's sod on the floor. I'm told it smelled really good. And muddy.
I got to help cut and hang the green vines on the walls. It was pretty fun.
Harvest's SECOND show (two in one night!) was "cantsleeptoomuchtodo."
For months she asked people to send her their to-do lists.
Then she stitched them all together into a quilt.
She also made sheets, pillows, drapes, and a lampshade.
Both shows were very cool, but the lists one was my favorite.
As the evening waned, we headed out to see a few other shows.
Me and Harvest in a cool gallery.
Later we went out to get enormous donuts. The donut in my left hand was covered in Cap'n Crunch. (Man, now I'm totally hungry for Cap'n Crunch...)
Portland is a cool old town.
You can go everywhere on foot, and there's tons to see and do and eat.
And there's lots of weird stuff in their sky...
Harvest and I went to visit the U.S.S. Blueback, a submarine parked at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
We were the only people there, so we got a private tour.
Our guide was happy to tell us anything we wanted to know.
I got to take the wheel...
And DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!
Here's what a sonar screen REALLY looks like. Not like in the movies...
Harvest tries to open the safe with the missle codes in it....
And I made my move for the small arms locker.
Here's where they fire the torpedoes...
And there's the hatch where they load them into the sub.
Not much room for sleeping on a sub. When Harvest gets up for work, another guy will take her place in this bunk. And another guy after that. It's called "Hot-Bunking."
I pause for a snack in the crew mess.
Harvest is impressed by the sheer power of the engine room.
She's enthralled by the forces needed to propel a submarine underwater.
But most of all, she likes the wood paneling...
Watch your step! A down ladder leads to a lower level in the engine room.
Tour's over, but she can't resist one more swing through the door.
This guy was fishing on the dock outside.
(He threw it back.)
That's all for the U.S.S. Blueback!
Finally we headed east of Portland to Multnomah Falls.
This is Harvest's husband Scott. He's pretty cool.
(Harvest thinks so too.)
The Multnomah Falls are 620 feet tall, the second highest falls in the nation.
Harvest and her husband Scott.
Thanks for a great trip!